1st day of school...

We had a nice weekend and had our "back-to-school" dinner on Sunday. We were grocery shopping and Brityn saw this cake and thought it would be perfect for our special dinner.



It was very delicious and quite fancy, considering the kids decided to do breakfast for dinner. It didn't really go with the menu, but they loved it anyway!

So for dinner we made pumpkin chocolate chip waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, canteloupe and strawberries. Usually Steve makes the waffles, but since he wasn't home I made them. The kids response was, "Mom, these are the best waffles ever! They're better than Daddy's!" They were pretty good if I say so myself. :)

Once Steve, finally made it home, he gave each of the kids a back-to-school blessing. They were very nice and always make ME feel better. Even Ryder wanted a blessing.

I can't believe Brityn is going to be a Kindergartner!

Even Sawyer was excited for school to start. :)

Everyone was up bright and early, got ready and we were out the door on time for the 1st day of school!

My 3rd grader this year.

And my sweet Kindergartner!

Kendyl was very excited and we told her we would walk her to her dot, but she only wanted us to drop her off at the gate. Oh, she is growing up!

We walked Brityn over to the kindergarten gate and she was very excited. She found her friends and had a few minutes to play.

Ryder couldn't stand all the fun happening without him and before we knew it, he sneaked out of the stroller and headed for the play equipment.

Brityn in line getting ready to go inside.

This is her in line after school. We were waiting for her at the gate to pick her up. She couldn't wait to tell us all the fun things she got to do today. I breathed a sigh of relief when she said she ate all her lunch. She was so excited to have lunch at school, and I worried, but she handled it like a champ. She was full of stories of what she did and was excited to do her homework paper. What? Who gives kindergarteners homework on the 1st day? But she was happy to do it. Way to go Brityn! When I asked her tonight after I tucked her in how she liked school she said, "Mom. It was awesome."

Kendyl came walking out to the gate like she knew what she was doing and was excited as well, to tell us how her day went. She seems to like her teacher and knows several of the kids in her class. She was also excited to see other friends at recess and lunch. I'm so glad things went well for the 1st day of school.

This year Steve scheduled to start his day later so he could go with us to drop the girls off for school. It was HIS first time going to their first day of school and it always makes the kids happy to see Daddy. He works a short day on Mondays, so he was even there when we picked them up. It was a very fun first day of school!

Swim, Party, Swim...

It has been so fun to have cousins to play with and have fun with. We really wish they lived closer!
Even swimming in the backyard was more fun with cousins!

We got to celebrate Tutu's birthday while she was here. We had fun decorating the house and wrapping her presents. We hope she had a fun birthday because we had fun celebrating it!

Tutu wanted brownies, so we stuck the birthday candles in and sang happy birthday.

And EVERYONE helped her blow out the candles. Multiple times of course! :)

We met Michelle and Paul and the kids at the lake after they toured Hoover Dam. It was pretty windy and very hot, but the kids jumped right in the water and had a fun time.

Kendyl found a rock in the water that made it look like she was standing ON the water. It looked pretty cool.








We had a fun visit and enjoyed all the fun activities we got to do with our cousins. Thanks for coming to visit! We need to do it again, definitely.

Shark Reef...

Steve took a day off and we all headed over to see the Shark Reef. It had been several years since we'd gone, so it was fun to see all the fish swimming in the tanks.

The kids were excited to walk around and see all the fish and animals.

They were also all very excited to listen to the wands you got to carry with you and push numbers at each exhibit that described all the fish in each tank.

This is the pirhana tank and we arrived just in time to see them get fed. Their caretaker was explaining what she was going to do and her normal routine when feeding these fanged, meat-eating fish.

This is the feeding frenzy while she's throwing in chopped up pieces of chicken. They were fast and splashing water out of the tank. It was quite the show.

Steve tried to convince Ryder to touch a stingray.

This was probably the most interesting of all the sharks--the Sawfish Shark. It had a long nose with protusions off of it that made it look like a very long saw. We also saw the new Guitarfish shark. He was pretty cool looking too.

The kids especially liked the turtles that were swimming in the big tank.

We had lots of fun checking out all the sharks and seeing all the cool animals and fish they had!

Children's Discovery Museum...

We took the kids to explore the children's museum. This is a really fun place with lots of hands-on exhibits. Great entertainment all in one place.

Kendyl and Lana.

This exhibit is sponsored by Blue Man Group. You can drum on these pipes and make music. Pretty cool!

What was even better was getting to see The Blue Man Group in person! Tutu was nice enough to watch all the kids while Steve and I went with Michelle and Paul to see them. Great show, very entertaining and humorous. I brought home the dvd and the kids have watched it several times already. Lots of fun!

The bubble station is always a favorite and so cool too.

Driving the airplane.

They LOVE shopping at the store. I just wish they were this cooperative and helpful at the real grocery store!

The kids also love this computer game where you can see yourself on the screen and can play volleyball, basketball, soccer, and hockey. They stand by the green screen...

...and can see themselves on this screen playing the game. They can move around and block the shots. Lots of fun.

Kendyl showing some muscle.

And a group effort to drop the bowling ball to shoot a tennis ball in the air. Another favorite.